That question pops up frequently in wedding chats and emails. Basically, you’re asking about the best times for everything on your wedding day—from when the photographer should show up to when you need to start hair and makeup.
Here’s a simplified guide: Timeline for Your Wedding Day – Guide
1. Wedding Ceremony Time
Your day revolves around the wedding ceremony time – think of it as the anchor that holds everything in place, and we should start with ceremony time.
First off, consider where your wedding ceremony is happening. Is it at the same venue where you’re getting ready, or do you need to factor in travel time?
- I recommend a 2 o’clock Ceremony if it’s at the same place you are staying in the morning—for example, the venue.
- If it’s a church ceremony, add travel time—if the church is, for example, a 30-40-minute drive from the venue, I would recommend a 1 pm Ceremony.
- For winter weddings, the ceremony should be planned earlier since it gets dark early. 4 pm is not daylight for photos.
You should be in your dress at least an hour before the ceremony or before heading to the church.
A few people have asked why it’s important for the bride to be dressed an hour before the ceremony or before leaving for the church. Here are several reasons:
- Videographer Setup: Most videographers leave your home 30-40 minutes before the ceremony to set up audio and other equipment at the venue. If you’re not ready on time, they might miss capturing special moments like your first look with your dad. Additionally, we need time to speak with the priest or celebrant before the ceremony to understand the specific rules of the church, which is very important.
- First Looks: If you’re planning a first look with your father, groom, bridesmaids, or family, you must be ready earlier to have time for it. Mornings can be busy, and time flies by quickly. It’s usually calm until the last hour when things get hectic.
- Photo Opportunities: In 90% of weddings, brides and grooms request photos of guests arriving at the ceremony venue or church. These moments, such as the groom greeting guests, are precious and often captured in photos. Wedding Photographers will miss those moments if you’re not ready on time.
- Calm Your Nerves: Being dressed an hour before the ceremony gives you time to calm your nerves. You can use this time for final touches and to take photos with your mom, dad, and bridesmaids. This relaxed preparation time is impossible if you’re running late.
- Fresh Makeup: If you’re worried about keeping your makeup fresh, don’t stress. After the photographer and videographer leave for the ceremony venue, your makeup artist and hairdresser can make final touch-ups without rushing.
- Stress-Free Day: The most crucial reason is your overall well-being. Starting your day stressed increases the risk of staying stressed throughout the day. Following the rule of being ready early ensures a more relaxed and enjoyable wedding day.
- If you’re planning a first look on your wedding morning, aim to have it 1 to 1.5 hours before the ceremony and allocate 20 minutes. Don’t forget to adjust your schedule for makeup and hair.
Remember, it’s better to be ready early and relaxed than late and stressed.
Please discuss this with your makeup artist and wedding hairstylist. Trust me, you will have a more relaxed morning, better memories, and more photo/video moments captured.
This way, everyone will be ready in time for some photos with your bridesmaids, maybe with a glass of champagne or prosecco, and the first look with your Dad.
Your videographer/photographer needs to set up and might need to leave 30-40 minutes before you, so keep that in mind and chat about it with your hair and makeup artists.
EXAMPLE—If your house is close to the church, like a two-minute drive, and your wedding starts at 1 pm, you should get into your wedding dress by 12 o’clock at the latest!
This way, you’ll be all set and ready without any rush.
2. Wedding Morning Preparations:
Wedding Photographers start around 10-11 am in Bride or Groom’s house or venue.
If I visit the Groom, I visit Him first at 10 am if he is no longer than 5 minutes away from the Bride, or I will meet Groom at the church or venue 30 minutes before the ceremony.
See more tips here: Morning Schedule Wedding.
Aim to step into your dress at least an hour before you need to leave or the ceremony begins.
This gives everyone enough time to get ready without rushing. Capture those precious moments with your bridesmaids, sipping on champagne or prosecco.
Of course, everyone’s circumstances are different, but as a general rule of thumb, the bride should not be the last one to get her make-up done; the most important, people should go first.
Unfortunately, all too often, I see the bride and mother of the bride hiding from photos because their makeup has not been done yet – which I think is very unfair!
3. First look
If you’re planning a first look on your wedding morning, aim to have it 1 to 1.5 hours before the ceremony and allocate 20 minutes for it. Don’t forget to adjust your schedule for makeup and hair.
Please remember, a first look doesn’t replace a professional photoshoot at the wedding – a photoshoot with Bride and Groom needs to be done after the ceremony to keep the wedding dress clean. :)
For more tips, see more:
https://www.dkphoto.ie/bride-guide/first-look-tips-wedding-photographer/
4. Wedding Church/Venue
If your ceremony is at 1 pm and the venue is 40 minutes away, consider this:
- The church ceremony often runs over an hour – civil ceremony 30-40 min.
- The bride might need to arrive on time, but some guests can be late.
- You’ll have a receiving line and family photos outside the church.
So, if the wedding ceremony starts at 1:15 pm, you’ll probably leave the church around 3:20 pm, considering the receiving line and family photos.
Add the 40-minute drive, and you’ll get to the venue around 4 pm.
5. Wedding Reception/Photos
You’ll get to the venue around 4 pm.
Dinner usually starts between 5 pm and 5:30 pm. That leaves you about an hour and a half to take photos and enjoy the drinks reception.
Try not to schedule your ceremony too late so you have plenty of time to enjoy it. Aim for about 30 minutes for bride and groom photos, leaving you about an hour to relax and enjoy the drinks reception.
Family photos are difficult to time. It depends on how long your list is and how fast people gather in front of the photographer’s camera. They can be done in 15 minutes, but I have seen them take an hour!
6. Wedding Meal/Speeches
- 5:30 pm: Dinner call at the venue.
- 5:30 to 6:20 pm: Guests sit down and order their meals.
- 6:20 pm: Entrance – Bride and Groom to the ballroom to start dinner.
- Dinner lasts about 2 hours.
- 8:30 pm: Dinner ends, followed by speeches until 9 PM.
7. Sparklers/Sunset
IMPORTANT!
SUMMER is for sunset photos; WINTER is for sparkler photos.
The best time for sparklers is after meals, just before the first dance, but be aware – the summer months get dark very late!
First and foremost, sparklers must be used in a dark place for them to be effective. If it’s not dark enough, the photos will never look good.
For this reason, you must remember this very important rule:
- SUMMER – time for sunset photos or just evening photos (I love them as well! )
- WINTER – It gets dark quickly, which is ideal for sparkler photos. From 5-6 pm onwards will work fine.
8. First dance – FUN!
- The band starts setting up at 9 pm until 9:45 pm.
- Some venues let the band set up during the meal to keep the first dance from being too late. Check with your venue.
- For most weddings, The first dance is planned for around 9.30 – 10 pm.
9. Conclusion
Every wedding and every family is unique. Organizing family photos is sometimes quick, and other times, it takes longer.
The speed at which venues serve food and the length of speeches can also vary.
With experience from over 1000 weddings, this advice should help you plan your timeline better.
I always send a WEDDING QUESTIONNAIRE a few weeks before Big Day!
That might help a lot:
My Wedding Guide with Wedding Checklist included!
A Wedding photographer with a lot of experience will help you on the day!
Happy planning, Daniel.
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